Honestly, the full list of Oscar nominations 2025 felt like a fever dream when it first dropped. Remember the delay? The Los Angeles wildfires basically ground everything to a halt, pushing the announcement back to January 23. But when Bowen Yang and Rachel Sennott finally stepped up to the mic, the industry shifted. It wasn't just another year of biopics and blockbusters. It was the year that "Emilia Pérez" took over the conversation with 13 nominations, nearly touching the records held by giants like Titanic.
Everyone was talking about the snubs, too. No Angelina Jolie? No Selena Gomez? It felt personal for a lot of fans. But looking back at the full list of Oscar nominations 2025, the Academy actually leaned into some pretty wild choices. We saw a 215-minute epic about an architect (The Brutalist) go head-to-head with a neon-drenched dramedy about a Brooklyn sex worker (Anora).
The Heavy Hitters: Best Picture and Director
The Best Picture race was stacked. There’s no other way to put it. You had the massive scale of Dune: Part Two competing against the intimate, heart-wrenching Brazilian drama I'm Still Here. It’s kinda rare to see the Academy embrace such a wide range of genres in one year.
- Anora (Winner)
- The Brutalist
- A Complete Unknown
- Conclave
- Dune: Part Two
- Emilia Pérez
- I'm Still Here
- Nickel Boys
- The Substance
- Wicked
Sean Baker ultimately took home the gold for Anora, but the directing category was a dogfight. Coralie Fargeat getting a nod for The Substance was a huge win for body horror fans—basically a sign that the Academy is finally loosening its tie. Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez) and Brady Corbet (The Brutalist) were the ones to watch, but Baker’s vision for Anora just had that "it" factor.
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The Acting Showdowns
If you followed the 2025 season, you know the Lead Actor race was basically Adrien Brody's to lose. His performance in The Brutalist was soulful, exhausting, and—frankly—mammoth. He won, but the competition wasn't exactly sleeping. Ralph Fiennes was doing career-best work in Conclave, and Timothée Chalamet’s turn as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown had everyone doing double-takes.
On the Actress side, Mikey Madison’s win for Anora felt like a star-is-born moment. But let’s talk about Karla Sofía Gascón. By being nominated for Emilia Pérez, she became the first openly transgender performer to land an acting nod at the Oscars. It was a massive, overdue milestone. Then you had Demi Moore in The Substance, delivering what many called the performance of her life.
Lead Actor Nominees
- Adrien Brody, The Brutalist (Winner)
- Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown
- Colman Domingo, Sing Sing
- Ralph Fiennes, Conclave
- Sebastian Stan, The Apprentice
Lead Actress Nominees
- Mikey Madison, Anora (Winner)
- Cynthia Erivo, Wicked
- Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez
- Demi Moore, The Substance
- Fernanda Torres, I'm Still Here
Supporting Stars and Screenplays
The supporting categories were where the real heart of the night lived. Kieran Culkin—everyone’s favorite chaotic brother—won for A Real Pain. He just has this way of being vulnerable and annoying at the exact same time. It works. For the women, Zoe Saldaña finally got her flowers for Emilia Pérez. She’s been in the biggest movies ever made, but this was the role that let her actually act without a motion-capture suit.
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The full list of Oscar nominations 2025 also featured a very tight screenplay race. Anora grabbed Original Screenplay, while Conclave took Adapted. It was a good night for Focus Features and Neon, proving that the mid-budget "adult" drama isn't dead—it just moved to different studios.
Technical Marvels and Animated Gems
Dune: Part Two did what everyone expected: it cleaned up the technicals. Best Sound? Check. Visual Effects? Check. It’s hard to compete with Denis Villeneuve when it comes to scale. However, The Brutalist managed to snag Cinematography (shoutout to Lol Crawley), which was a nice break from the blockbuster dominance.
Animated Feature was actually a bit of an upset. While Inside Out 2 was the box office king, the Academy went with Flow. It’s a beautiful, dialogue-free journey that proves animation is a medium, not a genre for kids.
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The International Stage
For the first time ever, two films—Emilia Pérez and I'm Still Here—were nominated for both Best Picture and Best International Feature simultaneously. That’s huge. It shows that the "one-inch tall barrier of subtitles," as Bong Joon-ho famously called it, is basically gone. Walter Salles' I'm Still Here took the International trophy back to Brazil, marking the first time a Portuguese-language film made such a massive splash in the main categories.
What This List Tells Us
The full list of Oscar nominations 2025 wasn't just a tally of who spent the most on "For Your Consideration" billboards. It felt like a genuine attempt to bridge the gap between "Prestige Cinema" and the stuff people actually enjoy watching. Seeing Wicked and The Substance in the same conversation as a four-hour immigrant epic is sort of wild, but it works.
If you're looking to catch up on the winners, most of these have hit streaming by now. Anora is a must-watch for the energy alone, and if you have the stamina, The Brutalist is a visual masterpiece that deserves the biggest screen you can find.
Next Steps for Film Buffs:
- Watch the Winners: Prioritize Anora and The Brutalist to see the two ends of the 2025 cinematic spectrum.
- Track the Milestone Performers: Follow the upcoming projects from Mikey Madison and Karla Sofía Gascón; they are the new industry titans.
- Explore International Cinema: Dive into the back catalog of Walter Salles (I'm Still Here) to understand why Brazil had such a powerhouse year.